Palace v Leicester City

Selhurst Park, Saturday 3.00pm

Story so far

Milan Mandaric completed his takeover of Leicester back in February but has had to wait until pre-season before he started splashing the cash.

Mandaric has only one goal in mind - promotion. He achieved this feat with Portsmouth and intends to follow up his Pompey success with the Foxes. Failure is not an option.

"I am not a very good loser or very patient," he said. "In three years if we are not there this mission will be a failure and that word does not go well with my personality."

This lack of patience has already been seen with the dismissal of Rob Kelly and the appointment of Martin 'Mad Dog' Allen. There are already rumours that Allen is set to be dismissed after only one Championship game.

Leicester have amassed a total of 14 new players, but they have spent about £2.5m on ex-Birmingham stars Dudley Campbell and Stephen Clemence.

The Foxes started the season by losing to newly-promoted Blackpool and beating Accrington Stanley by a solitary goal in the League Cup.

Team news

BEN WATSON damaged ankle ligaments in Palace's midweek Carling Cup defeat to Bristol Rovers and is out for a fortnight.

"We haven't had the results of the scan yet, but we're hopeful that it's only going to be a couple of weeks," said Taylor. "He certainly won't play this weekend though."

Defender Jeff Hughes (groin), midfielder Carl Fletcher and winger Paul Ifill (both hamstring) are doubtful.

New Leicester signings Clive Clarke, Marton Fulop plus Patrick Kisnorboare in contention for starting roles. James Chambers (calf) and Darren Kenton (ribs) are doubtful.

Quotes

Peter Taylor said: "Milan Mandaric was the chairman when we last played them, and I said back then that the club's in very good hands with him in charge.

"He was very successful at Portsmouth, and I'm sure he'll be keen to repeat that success at Leicester. He's brought Martin [Allen] in, who's got a great job there - I should know.

"He did very well at Brentford and then MK Dons, and I'm sure he'll want to do just as well at Leicester to further his career."

---

Leicester City - league stats

Position	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
21st	1	0	0	1	0

Full league table

---

Leicester City - current form

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
1	0	0	1	0	1

Full form table

---

Our home record v Leicester City

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against
24	13	8	3	35	27

---

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
10/03/2007	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Leicester City
21/10/2006	League	Leicester City	1 - 1	Crystal Palace
07/04/2006	League	Leicester City	2 - 0	Crystal Palace
02/01/2006	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 0	Leicester City
01/02/2003	League	Leicester City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace

All time results

---

One to watch

Ian Hume

You know it's bad when City fans would automatically give Carl Cort a starting spot up front if he was injury free.

Matty Fryatt has flattered to deceive and with De Vries not doing very much, Leicester's strike force is looking pretty impotent.

DJ Campbell has been brought in to finish chances off but his ability in front of goal has been described as wayward, although his link up play is half decent.

Ian Hume finished top scorer last term but he isn't an out and out striker. He will come deep and collect the ball, although he does have pace - he isn't one to hang onto the last defender.

The current choice for a striking pair for Leicester fans is Hume and Campbell, but their height and strength against our centre backs should give Palace the upper hand.

Ref watch

M P Russell Currently in his fourth season of refereeing in the Football League, which has taken him to footballing superpowers such as Boston and Mansfield, he has ample experience and is described by some as "a patient, but sometimes whistlehappy" referee.

On Tuesday, he took charge of his first game of the season and our mates from the New Den, with Millwall's 2-0 League Cup defeat to Northampton Town. Last season, he averaged nearly 3 yellow cards a game but was less generous with the red ones, sending just four players for an early bath in his 31 matches.

Last meeting

Palace 2-0 Leicester City

Saturday March 10 2007

Palace: Kiraly, Lawrence, Hudson, Cort, Borrowdale, Soares, Fletcher, Watson, Scowcroft, Freedman (Hughes, 73), Morrison (Grabban, 78)

Subs not used: Speroni, Butterfield, Martin

Bookings: Borrowdale

Goals: Fletcher 14, Watson 90(pen)

Leicester City: Henderson, Kisnorbo, McAuley, Stearman, Johansson (Kenton, 89), Hughes, Johnson (Yeates, 71), Jarrett, Porter, Hume, Horsfield (Hammond, 63)

Subs not used: Logan, Tiatto

Bookings: Hume

Prediction league

0 members have predicted for this game so far.

Make your prediction on this game

Selhurst pub guide

Click here